Blossom of my Heart
by Emmabeth27
Summary: Tobio Kageyama gets a summer job working in a flower shop named Karasuno for the summer. The son of the owner is a funny little red headed guy who seems to think talking gibberish to plants is the best way to make them grow. It's just a matter of time before serious Tobio gets swept up in Shouyou's way of thinking. (Tooth-rotting fluff is ahead!)


Tobio left his house on his bike just as the moving van was rounding the street corner. He didn't want to have to be around to help unpack. His parents moved every few years for their work and Tobio knew from experience that the weeks after moving were the most frustrating. His parents would stand around and bicker about where things should go, both Type A personalities, they'd constantly bump heads. It was easier to get away. So, to preserve his own sanity, he'd looked around for summer job opportunities, anything to keep him out of the house.

The only place that had offered to hire him that didn't involve a deep fat fryer was this flower shop, Karasuno. When he spotted the shop sign, he pulled up to look at it. It was a bustling garden center as well as a flower shop.

He parked his bike in the rack and chained it up before going inside to introduce himself. A red-haired little girl ran past him, followed by a young kid who must have been a sibling.

"Get back here, monkey butt!" He was laughing.

Tobio frowned and ignored the kids as he went up to the counter.

"Hello, can I help you?" a lady with slightly faded red hair asked with a smile.

_Geez, those must be her kids,_ Tobio sighed, working around them was going to be interesting. _But it definitely beats food service_, he reminded himself.

"Yes, I'm Tobio Kageyama. We talked on the phone I believe?" He tried for a smile, or at least not a frown.

She smiled brightly. "Of course! Welcome!" She grabbed his hand and shook it. "And welcome to town as well. Are you settling in okay?"

He shook her hand stiffly. "Yes, ma'am." He nodded.

"That's great! Well, I'm Mrs. Hinata, and I'll show you the ropes," she said, then cast an eye around the shop. "Shouyou!" she called.

The little guy who had been running around paused midstep, nearly falling over. He rushed to his mother's side. "Yes, mom?"

"Look after the counter, dear. And stop riling your sister up." She motioned for Tobio to follow and she showed him the whole store and his basic duties.

Luckily, the job wasn't too hard. and Tobio wouldn't have to interact too much with customers, which made him happy. In all honesty, he knew nothing about plants, but Mrs. Hinata said he'd learn quickly.

"Well, I'll let you get started with some sweeping. You should talk with Shouyou, he's probably going to be in your new class." She smiled and went to go help a customer.

Tobio looked in surprise at the little shrimp behind the counter. They were going to be in the same class? He frowned a little and went ahead with his work. He didn't feel the need to make friends with the bouncy little guy.

He worked around the shop, getting used to what he needed to do. He didn't do any of the care for the flowers, just cleaned up around them until Mrs. Hinata had time to teach him about how to help more.

Shouyou was crouched in the corner, whispering to himself as Tobio swept around him, annoyed the guy was in his way.

"Shhh. Your grumpy face is bothering this azalea." Shouyou glanced up at him, looking absolutely serious.

"It's a flower." Tobio deadpanned, surely this guy wasn't serious.

"It's an _azalea_. Not just a flower. And it responds to smilies!" Shouyou said, fluffing up one of the pink flower buds.

"Are you stupid?" Tobio asked bluntly.

Shouyou puffed up. "No! Flowers respond to things like bwaaa and fwaaah!" He made big hand motions.

Tobio stepped away from him, trying to look the other way. "That's not even English."

* * *

It appeared that Shouyou believed a great deal in music and mood for the health of the plants. As far as Tobio could tell over the next week, Mrs. Hinata just let her son do whatever he wanted while she ran the counter.

Tobio and Shouyou crossed paths often, usually with as few words as possible. One day when they were particularly busy, Tobio was annoyed to see Shouyou sitting in a corner, talking to some plant and not helping out.

During a lull, he went over and kicked him. "Hey! Are you working here or not?" he shouted.

Shouyou flinched and looked up at him. "Tobio! We have an emergency!" he said, tears in his eyes.

"Emergency?" He crouched down.

"A wilted leaf!" Shouyou was tenderly stroking a leaf curled up on the stalk of a flower.

"This is an emergency?" he asked annoyed, thinking of the running around he'd been doing during the rush.

Tobio had seen wilted leaves before, it happened sometimes. But now that he looked closer, the flower did look a little… lame. All the other flowers seemed bright and perky, not unlike Shouyou, but this one was listing to one side and the other leaves looked curled too.

"I don't know what's wrong with her! She won't talk to me! You have to help!" Shouyou insisted.

"I can't help! I don't know anything about plants."

"But you're grumpy and she's totally feeling grumpy! You have a lot in common!" Shouyou said, pulling Tobio closer.

Tobio glared. He didn't like being called grumpy, even if he was.

"Shape up, flower," he grunted in the direction of the plant, wanting to get away from Shouyou as fast as possible.

"She is a gardenia, and try to be more waaahhhh!" Shouyou made a motion upwards, fluffing his hair.

Tobio looked back at the gardenia and sighed. "Get it together, gardenia!" he shouted, shaking the pot.

Shouyou shrieked and pushed Tobio's hands off. "If you can't do it, just say so."

Tobio's eyebrow twitched. "I can do it!" He insisted.

"You just scared her, look, she's trembling!" Shouyou cradled the plant to his chest.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Tobio frowned.

"If Mom finds out, she'll throw the plant out. One bad plant makes the others look bad," he said the last with a pretty good impression of his mom. "We have to protect her!"

"Well…" Tobio looked around, "maybe the light is wrong?" He'd heard about how the light was important lately.

Shouyou hummed and nodded. "I'll take her to the other side of the room," he said eagerly and ran off with the plant.

Tobio smiled a little as he watched the shrimp run off, he was almost… cute? But the way little dogs were cute. Not the way people were cute of course.

* * *

They spent the next week moving the gardenia around the shop, giving her different amounts of water and sunlight. Somehow Tobio found himself swept up in the whole thing, helping hide her from Mrs. Hinata so that the plant would be safe.

Tobio parked his bike outside and went inside the store, going back to grab his apron. His phone dinged and he checked it real quick.

_Unknown: Tobio! It's me!_

He looked at his phone and frowned, there was no doubt who 'me' was.

_Tobio: How did you get my number?_

_Unknown: I took it from your job application papers just in case. I'm sick today so it's up to you to look after our girl! _

_Tobio: Fine…_

_Unknown: Don't forget to water her and see how that new blossom is doing._

_Tobio: I know how to look after her by now! Just get better!_

Tobio glared at his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. Typical of Shouyou to shirk his job at a critical time like this. The gardenia finally had a little blossom starting to open and he should be here to look after it.

He got started on his chores, making a mental note to look after the flower soon.

It was a busy day and he didn't get to check on her until near the end of his shift. He pulled her out of the hiding place and splashed some water over her soil, looking the plant over. At this point, Shouyou would talk to it but Tobio still hadn't sunk to that level.

When the door dinged to signal a customer, he quickly ran back to the main area to help.

As he was hanging up his apron, he had the suspicion he'd forgotten something, but he couldn't put his finger on what. He stepped out back to get his bike, frowning a little.

Mrs. Hinata was out by the compost pile and he suddenly realized what he'd forgotten. In her arms was a flower pot and a sick little plant with white petals. The gardenia.

He sprinted over, but it was too late. She grabbed the plant by the stem, shook out the soil on a little pile of dirt and tossed the plant onto the compost heap.

Tobio's heart sank as he watched their flower on top of a pile of other rotting plants.

"Thanks for your work today, dear," Mrs. Hinata said cheerily as she walked back inside.

Tobio rushed forward, only thinking of Shouyou's earnest little face when he found out that his girl was dead. He grabbed the pot and thrust her back inside, filling it with soil again.

"You're okay, you're okay. Don't worry. You're still alive. You can make it." He talked to the plant, running back to his bike and quickly taking her home.

He rushed the girl into his room and heard a ding on his phone.

_Shouyou: How did she do today? I've got a pretty bad cold. I won't be able to come in and care for her for a while. Please please please look after her!_

Tobio grimaced and threw the phone on the bed.

"Okay, one week maybe." He sighed. This plant was going to live if it was the last thing he did.

He typed the name into Google on the off chance there was something he could learn.

_Peat soil - well limed - bud drop - acid loving - Hygrometer readings - pH range 4.5 to 5.5_

The results of the web search were like reading a foreign language. But he had decided to save her and so if it meant learning about watering plants with pickle juice, he would.

* * *

Shouyou sent him texts pretty often and before Tobio knew it, he was texting back. He told him he'd just moved the plant to his house for safety.

The more he talked to him, Tobio realized Shouyou was still pretty annoying. _Very _annoying. But he was also... cute. Really cute. Or, geez, okay. Maybe he was adorable. Adorable like the way puppies were, not adorable like the someone you'd want to date, obviously. There was no way he thought of Shouyou like that.

Every time he watered the plant, checking that she was the right temperature and humidity, he thought of Shouyou's little face torn up with tears if he found out the plant had died.

Tobio wasn't the best student in general, but he found memorizing stuff about plants useful around the store and he certainly would know more than Shouyou did by the time he was back. Apparently, gardenias hated being moved from place to place, so all the running around the store hadn't helped their girl stay healthy.

After a week of being away from the store, Shouyou was back. Tobio didn't even get to finish chaining up his bicycle before he was swarmed by the redhead.

"I'm back!" Shouyou beamed.

"I noticed," Tobio said, locking his bike up.

"You still haven't sent me a picture of the gardenia." Shouyou waved his phone as if presenting proof of a missing picture.

"She's fine. I just need more time to help her out," Tobio insisted. Honestly, he still wasn't sure the flower was going to live. She didn't look any better than she had the day in the shop Mrs. Hinata almost threw her out.

Shouyou pouted, his cheeks puffing a little. "Before school starts next month, I want to see her."

"Fine." Tobio nodded. "The azalea misses you. You should go say hi to her too." He shooed him away.

"I already did. They're all really healthy. You did a good job. The plants like you!" Shouyou beamed and bounced a little. Then he suddenly paused, the air going out of him with a squeak and he turned bright red.

"Nevermind!" Shouyou shouted before running away.

Tobio watched him run and frowned. "Okay?" he said, shaking his head. He went inside and put his apron on, but Shouyou avoided him most of the day.

It was a little weird-no, it was a lot weird-but Tobio tried to ignore Shouyou's behavior and just went back to work. All that time he'd thought about the weird guy as adorable seemed wasted. Shouyou wasn't adorable. He was just odd.

However, it was a little funny how Shouyou darted around the store, trying to keep out of Tobio's way.

"Shouyou? Where did you put the Opuntia?" Mrs. Hinata asked, holding the store phone and looking around the greenhouse.

Shouyou was under a table and hit his head when his mom spoke. "The what?"

"The prickly pear," Tobio said, remembering the name easily. He went to grab it from the sunny spot that Shouyou had moved it to. It was less humid on one side of the room and the succulents liked it better there.

"Thank you, dear." Mrs. Hinata took it and smiled.

"Someone is adopting Mr. Pear?" Shouyou crawled out from under the table and grinned. "That's great!"

Tobio almost smiled at him. "I told he'd get adopted eventually," he said happily.

"No, I was the one who told you he was a good guy. You said he was ugly." Shouyou laughed and peeked around the corner to see who was buying the cactus.

"Well, it is kinda ugly." Tobio shrugged.

"Not everyone would like your giant potato-shaped head but you'll still get someone to buy you." Shouyou giggled.

Tobio glared at him and Shouyou quickly dashed out of hitting distance. "I do not have a potato head," he said loudly enough a few people in the store looked over at him.

Shouyou definitely avoided him after that little remark, staying clear of Tobio all day.

* * *

Whatever had happened to Shouyou to make him weird after he came back to the shop, stopped and they went back to normal.

At least normal as possible. Tobio found Shouyou more and more… distracting. The way he crab-walked around on the floor, going between plants to talk to them. The way he constantly seemed to have bed head ruffled hair. The way he whispered softly to plants and would sometimes lean forward and rub a petal on his cheek or give a kiss to a flower. It was all very distracting.

He also found Shouyou distracting when he went home, as he tended their plant and when he dreamed… The content of the dreams, he never remembered, but he'd wake up with his heart pounding and thinking of Shouyou's little face.

Maybe there was something unhealthy in the air of the flower shop, he decided. Tobio could only hope that's what it was.

Absentmindedly, he swept the same potion of floor over and over, thinking about how the Calendula was almost the same color of Shouyou's hair.

"Tobio!" Shouyou waved his hand in front of Tobio's face, making him jump.

"What?" He gripped his broom like a weapon and jumped back from Shouyou.

"You were daydreaming." Shouyou smiled.

"I was thinking," Tobio said with an indignant huff.

Thankfully, Shouyou didn't ask what he was thinking about. "This weekend I'll come over and see our girl, okay? I already asked my mom if it was okay for me to stay the night." He grinned.

Tobio looked down at him in surprise. "You what?" He definitely did not remember inviting Shouyou over.

"We agreed I could see her!" Shouyou reminded him as if this answered everything. "I'll see you tomorrow and we'll go to your place after work! Bye!" he said before he dashed off.

"Hey!" Tobio shouted after him but it was no good, Shouyou was gone.

This was bad. Tobio felt a weight drop inside him and he just prayed his parents said no.

* * *

His parents were thrilled at the idea. They were going out for the weekend to visit friends and they left money for pizza before leaving that next morning.

Tobio and Shouyou parked their bikes outside and he opened the door.

Shouyou looked around with excitement. "You get the house to yourself? That's awesome! My parents never leave."

"I'm sixteen, they don't need to babysit me anymore." Tobio shrugged, showing him around.

They were already settled, his parents had handled moving them in quickly and Tobio was still glad he hadn't been around during the process. The house wasn't large, but it had a great yard and Tobio had a big room so he was happy.

"Where's our plant?" Shouyou asked after he'd had most of the tour.

"My room." Tobio took him upstairs and opened the door. He kept it closed to control the temperature better. Their plant was quite picky about room temperature.

Shouyou's eyes were already big as dinner plates as he looked around, but when his gaze fell on the gardenia, his eyes lit up. He raced to her and beamed. She was doing a lot better. Her leaves were full and thick, and she had several buds though no blossoms.

"She's so happy." Shouyou leaned in and rubbed his cheek on the plant before kissing one of the buds.

Watching him, Tobio made a little squeaking moan sound that came out strangled and Shouyou looked at him in concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Just hungry…" He shrugged, trying and failing to not blush. His neck and cheeks grew hot. Shouyou was here in his room. The large bedroom suddenly felt small.

"Oh, let's go order the food then?" Shouyou asked.

Tobio happily nodded and basically ran out of his own bedroom. There was no way in hell he was going to make it through tonight. What was wrong with him?

They went back downstairs, ordered the pizza and ended up watching "Big Dreams, Small Spaces" on Netflix.

"You've gotten really knowledgeable about gardening," Shouyou said as he was devouring the stuffed crust pizza with surprising speed for someone his size.

"I guess I like it." Tobio shrugged.

"That's great! You can run the flower shop with me!" Shouyou beamed.

Tobio chuckled and reached forward, picking a piece of cheese off Shouyou's cheek. "You're so messy, you need someone looking after things."

"So you'll do it?" Shouyou didn't appear at all bothered by having Tobio pick food off his face.

"Maybe I'll open my own garden center and make you come work for me," he teased.

Shouyou gasped in surprise. "No, you won't!" He jumped up and threw himself on Tobio, accidentally pitching them both off the sofa so they landed on the floor in a heap.

"Hey!" Tobio objected as the small body of Shouyou wiggled around against him, trying to untangle themselves.

Shouyou rolled away and burst out laughing, a burst of laughter so infectious that Tobio couldn't help smiling and chuckling a little too.

"You don't smile a lot. But you have a good happy face," Shouyou said, creeping closer to him.

Tobio blushed as Shouyou advanced. "Thanks?"

"Sometimes when we talk I get this 'wahhhhh' feeling," Shouyou said, making another one of his sounds that weren't even remotely English.

"What does that mean?" Tobio asked, pulling his knees up to his chest to put a sort of block between them.

Shouyou got close but stopped short of pressing against him. He gave Tobio a very intense look. "It's like 'bwah' and 'ahhh'," he said as if that explained everything.

"I still have no clue what you're talking about." Tobio shook his head, his heart starting to pound as Shouyou's face got closer.

"I think you do," Shouyou said, his face serious again, but he was also blushing, his skin turning pink right in front of Tobio's eyes.

He leaned into Tobio more, his eyes dropping down to Tobio's lips. There was a moment where Tobio could have pulled away, but he didn't try. His eyes fell closed and he felt Shouyou's sweet and gentle kiss.

When Shouyou pulled away, Tobio opened his eyes and found Shouyou had gone from a cute pink blush to about the color of his hair.

Tobio couldn't help but laugh. He ruffled Shouyou's hair. "Yeah, 'bwah' sounds about right." He realized he'd been in a bit of denial about it, but there was no helping liking Shouyou.

Shouyou beamed at him and pulled him into another kiss, more confident this time.

Upstairs, the gardenia bloomed at long last, its sweet fragrance filling the room.


End file.
